Local paint maker, SIGMA Industries LTD, has incurred severe losses due to a fire outbreak that took place last night. According to eyewitnesses, the fire broke out at around 11: 45pm on Thursday burning through the night until 10: 30 am. It spread into the offices of the production area of the factory, which is based in Kigali’s Special Economic Zone based factory. According to Police, there were no lives lost or injuries recorded. However, the business is counting heavy losses as so little was salvaged even as Police and fire brigade made it to the venue at around midnight. The building was severely burnt and repair is not an option; the ceiling was razed and the white paints are all masked in black fumes. The monetary magnitude of the loss is yet to be established. The factory owners and management declined to comment on the incident. According to Henelick Gahamanyi, a security guard in the economic zone area, fire and smoke started around 11:50 from the production side but one couldn’t notice what triggered it. “I was near the office when I saw smoke over the roof. I saw people running and I also took my keys and ran to the other side of the factory,” Gahamanyi narrated. Claude Nizeyimana, an eyewitness who arrived at the scene immediately after the fire outbreak, said that there was an explosion before the huge smoke billowed the building. Without commenting further, the Rwanda National Police Spokesperson, CP John Bosco Kabera, advised Rwandans to call the police as soon as they witness anything strange like explosions or fire outbreaks in their properties or neighbourhood. He also called property owners to take precautionary measures against fire in their buildings and ensure insure that their businesses are safe from fire outbreaks. Investigations into the cause of the fire are still ongoing.
